Because this brine is very dense, it settles beneath pockets of fresh surface water, which lie on top of the lithium-rich fluid below, forming lagoons.

By Maxwell Radwin Global demand for lithium is expected to increase by nearly 500% over the next few decades, ... The protected Tebenquiche Lagoon in Chile. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia.

Freshwater essential to lithium mining is running low in the world’s “Lithium Triangle,” a mineral-rich region in the Andean Plateau that stretches across parts of Argentina, Bolivia and ...

Since lithium is the key component of the lithium-ion batteries that are crucial for the transition away from ... more than half of the freshwater feeding the wetlands and lagoons is at least 60 ...

Reedy Lagoon and ACME Lithium both staked claims in smaller calderas adjacent to McDermitt. “It would make geologic sense that there would be a similar deposit [in those calderas],” Rhode said.

Lithium mines threated native groups’ culture, ... Flores de Callata's town is one of 38 pressed up against two such salt flats -- the Guayatayoc lagoon and Salinas Grandes ...

The prevalence of lithium mining is threatening to disrupt traditional ways of life for indigenous groups living in a region spanning Argentina, Chile and Bolivia.

Lithium is key in the global fight against climate change. But to extract it, ... Wells and lagoons next to the mines brimming with intense blue fresh water dried up.

Tubes lie on the grounds of the lithium extraction plant facilities of the SQM Lithium company near Peine, Chile, Thursday, April 18, 2023. At least 1,280 liters of salted groundwater a second ...

The researchers will soon return to the lagoons to confirm their initial results, they say. But time is of the essence: The area is slated for lithium mining that could endanger the lagoons and ...

You could be forgiven for thinking there’s no water in the Atacama Desert. In fact, the driest desert on Earth has underground springs that feed the Chaxa, Cejar and Tebenquiche lagoons, as well ...

New research into lithium mining in the "Lithium Triangle" of Chile, ... which lie on top of the lithium-rich fluid below, forming lagoons.